How Client Identification and Client Commitment Uniquely Influence Auditor Objectivity

This article summarizes our recent study, "Client Identification and Client Commitment in a Privately Held Client Setting: Unique Constructs with Opposite Effects on Auditor Objectivity'' (Herda and Lavelle 2015), which examines how individual auditors' identification with, and commitment to, privately held audit clients affects their objectivity. Based on a survey of 102 external auditors, we find that client identification is distinct from client commitment. This distinction is important because identification as a construct is easily and often confused with commitment, and the terms are often used interchangeably. Client identification entails auditors perceiving themselves as one with the client. In contrast, client commitment reflects a responsibility for and dedication to the client, but the auditor and client remain separate psychological entities. Consistent with prior research, we find that client identification impairs auditor objectivity. Conversely, we find that client commitment enhances auditor objectivity.